Game 101: Pre-Game Notes

6:00 PM — Spoke to Tony Franklin, Tommy Phelps and Humberto Sanchez. Good stuff out of Humberto in particular, I’ll have a feature on a slimmed down Humby coming soon.

3:55 PM — Just got back from watching Humberto Sanchez throw a side session in the bullpen. Looks like Tommy Phelps is trying to get him to stay on a downhill plane and stay over the top with his stuff. It also looks like Sanchez has lost a lot of weight, too.

3:15 PM — Eric Wordekemper has been called up to Triple-A Scranton. As far as anyone around here seems to know, there’s no corresponding move just yet.

The Thunder are celebrating Irish-American Night by giving out pint glasses — of course — and wearing these sweet jerseys, pictured below.

Originally, the Thunder had a promotion planned to honor the Potato Famine of the 1800’s. Instead of baseballs, the players would be using potatoes and fans would be encouraged to “make it rain” with potato chips in the stands. “Thunder” was spelled out on the jerseys using french fries…it was very odd.

If they’re going to give away pint glasses, I can make that joke. I believe I’m protected under the 1967 “You Can Make Fun Of Your Own Ethnic Background, But God Forbid You Make A Crack On Anyone Else’s” Act.